Sinclair
Sitemap ' Augustus Sinclair ' --- --- --- --- --- Sinclair - Why Is He Set Up As A 'Bad Guy' ? : Perhaps the writers were trying to make you think he was another lying manipulator like Atlas/Fontaine was eventually found to be (AFTER the writers manipulated the Players to get their over-contrived plot 'Twist' in BS1) ? You might notice that Sinclair has 'lines' in his moral behavior he 'wont Cross' (certainly they are far short of where Fontaine or Sofia Lamb were willing to go - Like killing people who were in their way). There are things Sinclair just wont do. He might be somewhat loose or deceptive in his business practices, but "Let The Buyer Beware" is nothing new in the Real World, and is a part of the Personal Responsibility Philosophy which Rapture is much about. Sinclair is a business Opportunist, but he appears to have largely worked within the law (Perhaps why he came to Rapture which had fewer of them and less of the GROWING government interference and Regulation up there). You might say "He sold people to Fontaine Futuristic for experiments or Big-Daddification" ... But if you look at those posters in Persephone, that looks like it was voluntary (similar things happened in Real World American prisons in the 1950s and earlier - Where prisoners got reduced sentences and other concessions for volunteering for medical experiments). With Persephone also being the City's Insane Asylum, where Criminally Insane people were dumped, there WOULD be the question of what to do with those permanently locked in there for the rest of their lives As always in Rapture there is the question of HOW to Pay for them to be warehoused and cared for -- LIKELY For the rest of their lives (in a City where people are supposed to 'Pay Their Own Way'). There would ALSO be all different manner and degrees of Testing to be done (Versus ONLY the implied 'SOLD DOWN THE RIVER' result). The game also mentions Sinclair employing Persephone inmates for technical 'Think Tank' work. For insane people beyond help of therapy, employing them as Big Daddies to give them some work might be justified. Severely Brain damaged people might still 'earn their own keep'. It was mentioned in BS2 that Sofia Lamb sold a number of her own followers to Fontaine for experimentation. For others 'In Jail' (for lesser crimes), with sentences they will eventually be released from, Speeding Their Way To Freedom by Volunteering for 'Testing' would be logical and WAS Done in Real World Prisons. As seen with the 'Handymen' in Infinite BS, it is possible that many of Rapture's City Worker Cyborgs (We will need to come up with a 50s term they were given before 'Big Daddy' ever existed) might include a number of physically disabled people who volunteered for their 'transformation', and kept much of their personality and 'Free Will' (even the later Big Daddies didn't lose their minds -- They weren't/couldn't-be mindless Robots). . . . . . . . . . . Sinclair's 'Art' is Business and Making Profits : * He is creative in his ways of finding new methods and paths to achieve his results. * He doesn't force anyone into buying his products, n or into accepting or following his beliefs (or working for him). * Other people benefit by his actions and he greatly contributes to Rapture's advancements. --- --- --- Sinclair as Ruthless as Fontaine ?? : Sinclair doesn't need to kill people. He uses people, but generally it is when they want to be used ... ("Best of all is when they think it is THEIR own idea"). Consider all the products YOU buy ... Do YOU really need them all Consider the virtual slave labor in China making soooo many products for you -- WHOS THE EVIL ONE NOW, HUH ?????????????????? About Sinclair : Augustus Sinclair (Paupers Drop) " Now, I'm a modest man. But my piecemeal needle scam's an outright masterpiece: some slob shacked up here buys a box of syringe parts from me for twice what it's worth. He assembles 'em in his rathole, and I buy back the finished product... for a dime against the dollar that I'll get from Ryan. Profit comin', profit goin'. Ol' Andy rambles on about the Great Chain... I got people shellin' out to pull it for me!" Having him say this as if this is anything new in business processes is pretty distorted (trying to impart some kind of swindling sinister-ness to something done in real business day in and day out). People would be shocked if they learned how little things they buy actually cost in materials. What they don't realize is labor/process adds much of the value, and Sinclair has costs and risks and additional work/organization on his side to offset this assumed clueless 'syringe needle component price' versus the 'delivered to Ryan' price (as if it were all profit) distortedly being presented. Sinclair should be more surprised that he doesn't have more competition (which in Rapture would make alot of sense and IS kind of dim to be omitted), as anyone else could do exactly as he does and could undercut his prices (and 'Ryan' WOULD buy the ones at the lower price...) Sinclair was already rich when he came to Rapture, and Pharmaceuticals was a Real World way of making that happen . At that time plant-based chemicals/drugs were a large source - something you really didn't have premade sources for in Rapture -- But Sinclair could, using his previous experience/know-how with plants, bring them to be cultivated. And useful modern drugs WOULD be something Ryan WOULD want for 'self-contained' Rapture. Having Pre-ADAM labs Tenenbaum worked in, meant Sinclair probably was already working in the Medical supply (drugs ? anti-biotics ?) field ... Ryan actually had regard for proper competition ( "Offer a Better Product" ). So Sinclair also being in the ADAM product business probably would not make him Ryan's enemy -- even better if Sinclair could figure out how to make the ADAM stuff safer (to cause less instability/damage). Ryan had all the rest of Rapture and his businesses to worry about. Sinclair might develop/market something different on his own (via his 'Think Tank' - "Selling Ryan Short"), or if it was too big a project, sell it to Ryan who had 'deeper-pockets' and who wanted to outdo Fontaine. Remember, the ADAM industry was BIG with alot of different people/companies working on many different projects/products. So it would be highly likely Sinclair would not know all of what Tenenbaum was working on (particularly if it was something Fontaine wanted kept secret). Ditto for Suchong. I will have to go back and read the Novel again. Those pages (p119) paint Sinclair in a better light than is portrayed in many parts of the Solo game - he is more mindful of 'civilized' conventions - lines that he wouldn't cross, and knew that people would (in Rapture) be held responsible for their actions - which is a major balancing component of the philosophy Ryan had. Still, nothing in the game indicates if Sinclair was that much involved in the Plasmid business. Sadly, the series does not explore the (likely many) possible competitors for Fontaine Futuristics and Ryan Industries, and advertisements don't show any other name than theirs. Still, yes, the way Sinclair handled those tests both at Persephone and with the Consumer Reward Program, show he already had experience with the pharmaceutical market, and/or that he also used to conduct such tests prior to Rapture. I don't think Ryan would have worked with Sinclair if the guy was double-crossing him. Also, Ryan Industries was providing Sinclair Solutions with experimental products for testing. If Sinclair had those (Aero-Dash, Geyser-Trap and Houdini) sold on the market under his own brand, he would have been the first suspect Ryan would think of (besides the considerable expense Sinclair would have had to achieve any such development, production and marketing on his own). Sinclair was a smart opportunist, but in the end he wasn't as much a monster as Fontaine was or seemingly Ryan became (or rather as the authors had to make him a cutout bad guy). Sinclair asking Delta to end Sinclair's life in BioShock 2 showed that. The irony was he was made into one of the 'monsters' (BD) he had helped others create. Anti-biotics were the latest things in World medicine around the time Rapture started and alot of the advertised ADAM products were medical related (I hadn't heard of Phossy Jaw before seeing one for curing that). So there probably were very many different/specialized products of just that kind (ex- we never got the name of the one(s) Steinman used for his surgery -- EZ-Slice-N-Dice, Good-As-New, Dr Sterns Liquid Suture, Scar-B-Gone ...) . The industrialists/technologists/scientists/engineers who came also had skilled staff which many may have brought with them to Rapture (So Sinclair didn't do it all himself, but it sounded like he could understand all the very technical stuff). No doubt like Silicon Valley, as the industry expanded many would form their own companies off good ideas they got while working for others. So I don't think Sinclair would have 'double-crossed' Ryan, but would keep any additional business of his own separate and might take opportunities in niches which Ryan ignored. Count how many Plasmids/Tonics were in the Gatherers Garden and think how many more there likely were (and how many may still have been just being developed/researched). Ones being sold to just to get rid of Migraines or Hangovers might have hands down outsold all the rest. ---- ---- Sinclair's Colorful Language : Some Players might take it as 'literal'... (Don't they read Tom Sawyer and Huck Finn any more in schools? The way Sinclair talks reminds me a bit of Mark Twain's words). (I'm going to have to get every quote of his and demonstrate his constant use of colorful terms and pattern of putting down certain other people and things.) Self-made men often have views denigrating others they think were just handed their fortunes and worse - flaunting and then wasting it. Maybe he is proud of his achievements and has disdain for others who don't really have any ? Does that make him 'evil'? Does he NOT have the right to his own opinion? Is this not supposed to be a different era where you were allowed to call a bum a 'bum' and take pride in your not being one ? Why should he lie to himself? Is he? Maybe he just talks the way he thinks .. even to himself - DO YOU talk/think to yourself differently than you talk to other people/the public? ('two faced' I believe is the colorful phrase for it). Maybe it is simply a case that he is just honest and speaks his OWN mind, always? His quaint expressions of those opinions don't have to be exactly literal, do they? So, assuming that he is being literal with his words at all times is a mistake. NOTE - I will use this argument : What is found in the Audio Diaries (and various other 'quotes') LIKEWISE have to be taken frequently as Sinclair's biased opinion, and may only give clues to the reality. BTW - Levine supposedly 'doing it to make a point' ... When it is portrayed through illogic and distortions -- THAT is called Propaganda and Deception. It is also maybe a bit hypocritical when you figure 'evil capitalism' is paying Levine & Co their living. Since we hardly got much information about how Rapture's society worked (other than a vague/partial bunch of biased opinions, in some corpse-filled wreckage, shown in a tiny bit of a caricature Fail-topia), it is hard to see how any real 'point' could be made honestly. Various Messages In Sinclair's OWN Words Literal Interpretation NOT (for things Augustus Sinclair Says in the Game) ''' : --- --- --- . . . . . . . . . . . . . . I've seen people make Assumptions based on them taking a '''literal interpretation of Sinclair's very colorful language and phraseology (They didn't quite get it that he obviously talks in 'round' terms and allegorically.) Yes, he might have been an opportunist, but he could NOT much cheat people for him to stay in business as long as he was shown to have. Rapture is a small place, and Reputation counts for a great deal in such a small business venue. And Sinclair owned many businesses ALL with his name on them. He seems to find niche businesses other people miss or aren't flexible enough to undertake and makes them a success. Example Misunderstanding : Someone ASSUMES there's a Sinclair Spirits in Paupers Drop so that (they assume) Sinclair can suck the life's blood of his tenants in The Sinclair Deluxe. That being somehow based on A REMOVED (not used in game) Audio Diary. '-REMOVED Audio Diary- Sinclair Deluxe & Sinclair Spirits' : Sinclair : " If a smart fella wanted to talk some bankrupt fat-cat into moving to a slum, he'd call the place a Hotel on the nightly. The tenant dries his eyes an' tells himself it's only temporary -- and the smart fella shaves a dime a day off his drinkin' wage. Now, a smarter fella might also bankroll the local gin joints ... and take him for the rest. 1) It should be pointed out that there is no Sinclair Spirits in the game at the location of the Sinclair Deluxe (not even a sign). 2) There are already bars (ex- Limbo Room IN Paupers Drop) and such selling alcoholic substances (something common across all of Rapture), which Sinclair would have to compete with (And if anything, Sinclair would be selling it to them at a bit less to beat out the competition). Maybe if he had a vending machine selling booze (Hmm, good idea for the MMORPG), but those would get broken into too much. 3) Sinclair Spirits (seen in Fort Frolic/Poseidon Plaza) was kinda too upscale for "Tenement/Shantytown Folk". Maybe a nice grocery store for the 'poor' area would be a far better establishment to have in Paupers Drop/Sinclair Station/Maintenance Area 47 (Though we didn't see any - a definite level-designer deficiency ). 4) People who drink that badly soon have no money to pay rent anyway, and The Sinclair Deluxe WASNT a charity house (This was LOW(ER) INCOME HOUSING - the key word being 'INCOME'. Sinclair WOULDN'T WANT to attract deadbeats. I don't doubt that certain 'literally minded' people could hear Sinclair say : "Killing Two Birds with One Stone" - And then THEY would start looking for the dead birds (or complaining that he was a bird-murderer or somesuch) ... Some people just don't GET colloquialisms, slang, nor colorful language (nor the way some people talk). ---- ---- I can see why 'overly literally minded people' might be so confused "Siren Alley's the kinda place you go to scratch an itch you're ashamed of... even in a town with no laws." - Augustus Sinclair Itch? I think they have a new Zinc preparation that will do wonders for that. No laws (I've been through THAT one before ... Rapture is NOT "No Gods, No Kings, No Laws - Only Man" ). ---- ' "'Power to the People'? Hell, I've met the people, friend... an' they're a pack o' shaved monkeys run amok." - Augustus Sinclair ' Shave Monkeys? Rhesus? Howler? Capuchin? (Were these 'old world' or 'new world' monkeys ?) Shaved ? How do you get a monkey to stay still for that? - Little straight Jacket and a bench vice ??? ? Seriously some people need to read more to be exposed to creative talking - the writings of Mark Twain might be a good place to start. ---- ' "You do business as long as I have, and you learn to pick a brand name from the writin' on the wall." - Augustus Sinclair ' Literal Interpretation : What did this writing on the wall say ? What language was it written in, and 'written' with what ( paint? chalk? crayon? excrement? gold-leaf? ...) Having the Player (demographics important here) Misinterpretting Sinclair was supposed to be the writers aim, but you can't really condemn Sinclair for being uncharitable (This IS Rapture after all). The people who came to Rapture still looking-for a handout - They were the actual problem (and fodder for Atlas and his playing-off their Parasitism). ---- Wooden Nickels : Sinclair : "Andrew Ryan. He reckoned the free market was some kinda holy spirit gonna lead us all over the rainbow -- and I reckon it's a big fat hooker too dim to spot a wooden nickel. So old Andy went an' became his own ghost, and I whittled nickels 'till I made a mint." "big fat hooker" (( '' I really cannot understand people who seriously think Sinclair talks literal. '' )) 'Free Market' - Of course it is a matter of degree, as Sinclair's actions require a 'free market' too. (( '' Is this another lame attempt of the writers to try to smear Ryan's vision yet again? It wasn't Capitalism or Objectivism that destroyed Rapture, it was an evil power hungry thug named Fontaine who intentionally poisoned people and unleashed terrorists on the city. VERY MANY Evil men flourish under Socialism and under Communism most of all - They run every thing. Sofia Lamb murdered people who didn't fall for her collectivist 'vision' '' )). How many 'nickels' did Sinclair whittle while waiting years for Delta to arrive - Didn't see any in that room he was holed-up in (the hidden one in Ryan Amusements with all the small TV monitors). ---- Wrong Side of the Tracks : Sinclair : "Ol' Pauper's Drop's the worst neighborhood in Rapture -- but it's a hell of an opportunity to raise up some ah, affordable housin'. When Atlantic Express was constructin' their luxury passenger line, this place was hollowed out beneath as flophouses for the railway crew. Nobody was s'posed ta reside down here long-term -- but when you're broke in this town, you're not exactly swimmin' in alternatives. I don't favor spendin' more than an hour or so down here at a time. There ain't a side of the tracks more wrong than under 'em." When was this recorded ? Sounds like before he built his Sinclair Deluxe. AE was built fairly early in Raptures history (was needed to make the City run, and probably to build it in the first place). So those TEMPORARY 'flophouses' beneath happened at that time, and then get abandoned after the construction moves on (or later ceases). That then would be the time this 'Shantytown' grew up (and before all the fancy neighborhood redevelopment stuff we see there). If Sinclair is THERE, then it sounds as if he is there watching his construction (but the seedy squatter elements aren't quite gone yet). ---- Profit Coming, Profit Going : Sinclair : "Now, I'm a modest man. But my piecemeal needle scam's an outright masterpiece : some slob shacked up here buys a box of syringe parts from me for twice what it's worth. He assembles 'em in his rathole, and I buy back the finished product... for a dime against the dollar that I'll get from Ryan. Profit comin', profit goin'. Ol' Andy rambles on about the Great Chain... I got people shellin' out to pull it for me!" Still Sinclair IS paying for the labor involved. That one testimonial (of a guy involved in this needle work) that calls Sinclair the sucker for the 'scam' doesn't see any problem, and likes the flexibility of the "piecemeal" work. Remember all the OTHER overhead comes out of Sinclair's end (BTW - expenses are subtracted BEFORE you count any 'Profit' --- for those who haven't a clue about how business works). He's also supplying the money up front, and is the one taking the risk. Perhaps its because so many people these days are incredibly ignorant about how real business works that the writers though they could use THIS to present Sinclair as some evil meanie. Wait till they learn how much profit Apple gets for their toys, and might see how THEY are also part of a similar 'scam'. Ryan isn't stupid, and is likely NOT to overpay on Sinclair's syringes ... unlike the typical 'affluent' fad-driven Apple customer. ---- Farther to Fall : Sinclair : "I do love Siren Alley. The kind of place you go to scratch an itch you're ashamed of -- even in a town with no laws. But that's not why I favor it. The place started out as the Mason's Quarter, all builders an' architects, proper as you please. An' it just tickles me when someone in a fancy hat falls in the mud. Like a lot of the ladies down here, Siren Alley was born with a more respectable name ... but only God remembers what it was." Society still has standards of behavior and people in other areas didn't want certain thing happening in THEIR area (Google "Red Light District"). SO in Rapture you could make your own area and have the rules there be somewhat different from other areas. Example of 'Redevelopment' and adjustment (as with most construction work needed in Rapture, it would be obvious to most anyone that 'masons' (specialized construction workers/craftsmen) would eventually have had an economic downturn in their industry in Rapture. ---- Selling Ryan Short : Sinclair : "Persephone... secret home o' Sinclair Solutions. I bet against Andy Ryan's vision o' harmony in Rapture -- offered him a quiet place to send anybody who wasn't workin' out. And now I'm sittin' on my own private think tank. Technically, Utopia shouldn't have much use for a detention facility... but if you do business as long as I have... well, you learn to pick a brand name from the writin' on the wall. " He predicted economic problems to surface (Ryan never claimed there wouldn't be any) Jails are always needed in society, but ADAM driving people insane wasn't expected. The mayhem ADAM caused required things be 'handled'. Ryan never called it a utopia, just a place where parasites weren't welcome. ---- Sacrifices : Sinclair : "Things aren't so rosy for Lamb's little collective farm down here, no matter how much influence she's got with the inmates. She keeps feedin' Ryan more an' more o' her people for the Big Daddy program in order to keep the rest of her flock alive... I think she's gettin' desperate. I oughta have Weir double the orderlies on all the major junctions." Unfortunately when they unlocked all the doors there are too many for 'orderlies' to handle. Still its rather vague about whether people were simply taken (in Persephone) or that the candidates were the Criminally Insane and/or Severely Brain Damaged (much likely caused by ADAM abuse). Having Lamb do the 'volunteering' seems a bit heavy handed (use her usual Svengali abilities the writers gave her to dispose of those 'not of use' to her plans). ---- Private Interests : Sinclair : " I hear often, "Mr. Sinclair, you just gotta heart o' stone... Don't you wanna share with your fellow man?" An' I tell 'em, listen... I hail from sunny Panama... and my grand-daddy got himself drowned buildin' the Big Ditch. Went on an' on about doin' it for the "People." For the world entire ! Well, not for me, thank you. I came to Georgia to strike it rich, and Rapture all the moreso. You won't catch me blowin' my last bubble for any other personage... plural or singular. " How could his grandfather go on and on (for Lil' Auggie to hear this himself ) ? Shouldn't Gramps have been dead drowned as a worker there at the Canal 40+ years earlier?? How likely his grandfather could be a laborer? More likely he some kind of engineer/manager to be working on that project at an advanced age ? The 'Gold' (white) workers could have their families there with them while working on the Panama Canal (for gramps to be tellin his grandson). Is it second hand - related from some relative ? (Bad Working "Went on an' on" sounds like a direct hearing by Augustus himself.) In any case, is it evil (as the writers see it) for someone to say they would NOT want to get themselves killed for 'the betterment of other people' ?? Self-interest is a sin to the writers ? Why else stick this into the game. I doubt the gamemakers took no salary (let alone risked death) just to 'give all of us' this wonderful game ( 'Doin it for the Players.' ) ---- '-REMOVED Audio Diary- All Family Now' : Sinclair : " Lamb wouldn't call it grift, but her recruitment strategy is grade "A" flim-flam, an' I just have to tip my hat. She has her people splice a pile o' common genes into themselves... like blood brothers, except it's the genuine article. You die to protect the others - but some o' you lives on in them. 'Collective gene loyalty', they call it. It's mostly a mind game, but it worked to unite 'em... they're all "Family" now. " Removed/Not-Used probably because the concept wasn't 'noble' enough, OR was a complication/confusion/contradiction of the 'utopian' thing (the ADAM is goin to the Utopian...) Also seems to talk of 'genetic' stuff (hard to do until after she got control of Fontaine Futuristics which was a later development) instead of just using brainwashing/manipulation. ---- '-REMOVED Audio Diary- Rise of the Underdog' : Sinclair : " Sofia Lamb's had her eye on Rapture for years, and now she's got it. She started preachin' unity an' brotherhood for the downtrodden right here in the Drop. This movement springin' up around her is almost a kinda old-time religion. Now these governors Lamb's got in charge would never'a seen power in Ryan's day. They're nobodies, really. But I used to raise spaniels - an' the only thing meaner than the top dog ... was the underdog when he'd just plain had enough." Why removed ? Too 'explainy' ?? Again makes Lamb into too much a manipulator ? Religion ? Would ruin some of the BS2 scenes, which then would have been redundant to explain it all this way. Apparently recorded after Ryan was dead and Lamb has 'come out' of Persephone in Rapture's power vacuum/disorder. Sinclair apparently got 'run off' his property at that time. SO the state of The Sinclair Deluxe we see 5+ years later (in BS2 ) can be attributed to mismanagement of Lamb's minions (despite the writers pretending it was HIS slum). ---- '-REMOVED Audio Diary- A Little Interview' : Sinclair: "How are you settling in, Doctor? Persephone's got no shortage of nuts to crack, an' your congregation makes up the standin' majority. We need ya down here." Lamb: "Yet I appear before you in chains. Tell me, Augustus -- does it comfort you to equate faith with madness?" Sinclair: "No ma'am. God is the original hard-sell. You know it, and I know it. An' there's no better bluff with the hard-luck crowd than namin' the prime mover as your silent partner. I'm just blushin' that you got there first." REMOVED/NOT_INCLUDED Because its too complicated for the average Player (who just wants to be shooting things)? Too much religion ?? Lamb misusing religion (when writers want 'religion' to be the bad thing, and Dr Sofia Lamb is for that Touchy-Feeley crap so popular these days ?) Alludes to Ryan simply locked up 'religious people' instead of members of a 'church' bent on taking over Rapture (when other content contradicts that)? Redundant again ? Players might not know that Prisons in the old days were expected to largely be self-supporting. Remember when they used to make Licence Plates in prisons (so prevalent it became a cliche), AND when you owned a car you had NEW plates made every year ? Sinclair's 'Think Tank' was mentioned, but they didn't really talk of him being involved in running Persephone on a 'day to day' basis. So this message was a bit too cozy for the narrative used in the game ? ---- ' "Atlantic Express" Sinclair's Radio Message to Delta ' : Introduction and a Proposition : "Well, look at you! A bona fide knight in armor, complete with iron horse. The name's Augustus Sinclair, sport. Esquire. Ol' Tenenbaum an' I share an interest in the ol' Fontaine buildin', the very same place you'll find Eleanor Lamb. I think you an' I can do business. Take the train to Ryan Amusements. I'll see you shortly." How was Sinclair able to see Delta ? Have info about Eleanor, etc... ? Sinclair musta had various places wired (Note those TVs in his HideeHole in Ryan Amusements). He did survive Lamb's murderous Regime (avoiding it for years while in the vicinity of the area she controlled), so he musta had alot of abilities/influence hardly even hinted at. Perhaps as the builder of Persephone, he knew all its secrets and coulda flooded/drowned the place in minutes if she went after him (Dead Man Switch mechanisms as 'insurance' ...) I'm sure the MMORPG could enlighten us about what that actual situation was. --- --- --- One of Sinclair's Pithy Sayings : "You can make a City float, but you cannot make people stay in it." "There are Infinite possibilities for selling Dog Vomit, if you know what you are doing." "A smart man turns a too leaky building into an indoor fish farm." "Why should I have a liquor store in Sinclair StationLater renamed 'Paupers Drop' when Sofia Lamb and her 'Family' was in charge. ? They either pay my rent or buy booze, but not both. I already have the hotel. " --- --- --- Wooden Nickels (Audio Diary) ' : Sinclair : " Andrew Ryan. He reckoned the free market was some kinda holy spirit gonna lead us all over the rainbow -- and I reckon it's a big fat hooker too dim to spot a wooden nickel. So old Andy went an' became his own ghost, and I whittled nickels 'til I made a mint." Implies that Sinclair still did significant business AFTER Ryan was dead (1960 post-civil-war chaos), which kind-of runs contrary to how wrecked Rapture supposedly was portrayed at that point (Did we get in the first BioShock a run through of the disrupted parts of Rapture, by Atlas, because he kept us away from Ryan Loyalist controlled areas ? Did Atlas/Fontaine himself mostly stick to the 'Sewers', which he felt safe in, while the dragnet was looking for him (with or without the Pheromone Control thing)? A 10,000 ADAM Bounty offered on Atlas (Dead or Alive) --- THAT woulda made him keep his head down , real real low ...) --- --- --- '''Maintenance Junction 17 ('Repair Yard') to Sinclair Deluxe : ' "at some point Sinclair realized that there was all this real estate down there that nobody was using for anything so he sublet or purchased it from Atlantic Express and built a low income housing area literally down under the Atlantic Express tracks." The Diner, shops and 'building' facades looked a little too good/organized for 'temporary housing' for RR workers. Sinclair probably had whoever was squatting there evicted and developed the area (paying workers to do the construction) - built it up with a moderate level of services/businesses for his targeted clientele (which apparently there were a sufficient number of to pay his low rates -- a "Free Market" at work ). Its looking bad by BS2 time might be more the product of it being 'under 'new management' (collectivised) since the Civil War days and Lamb's seizing of power. The Station became "Sinclair Deluxe" (and earned a station marker on the Atlantic Express map that was eventually scratched off by Lamb's followers). The station facilities there you see are extensive, hardly something for a maintenance stop (if it were for employees-use-only then why have triple ticket counters?). Only many passengers originating there would warrant that much station infrastructure, so Sinclair Deluxe (the hotel and the rest of the properties) must have had significant working population. Sign : "After the Theater, Come to The Limbo Room..." implies a 'Night-life' element to some of the passenger traffic (The AE was actually more like a city subway system). The Reliable Pharmacy there was a Ryan owned enterprise (hardly a business you would find in something built as a 'Hooverville'). The Jet Postal station in Sinclair Deluxe lobby - again not exactly a shoddy slum. Interesting point of 'squatters' -- where else are they in Rapture (before things really fell apart) -- Sinclair would not have been the only entrepreneur to see an opportunity in supplying low-end housing. Some people still likely could not even pay his low rates (and later wound up in Atlas's 'home for the poor') - tenements in Apollo Square area look purpose built as very 'low-end' (compare them to the better Sinclair Deluxe). City of 20000+ people ... WERE there really that many such 'poor' places or are we getting a disproportionate sampling shown to us in the game ?? (and they ARE shown worse for wear, long after the economic distress stopped maintenance --- like the Sinclair Deluxe where Lamb's followers don't seem to bother with doing any 'maintenance' or 'upkeep' -- it is actually amazing THAT much of it is still livable). --- --- --- 'I know Where Sinclair was Hiding : ' In Ryan Amusements, right above that cubbyhole storage-room Sinclair emerged from, up on the Atlantic Express sign is the front end of a Metro car (a decoration). That would make a perfect Bat Cave (circa 1939) 'spiderhole' for someone with the connections to pre-arrange for it (Sinclair may have finagled part of the construction contracting). A hidden ladder would access from that room below... Sinclair's life in Rapture post-Kashmir might make an interesting story. Fill-ins like this for Rapture's history and of its main characters would be a likely part of the MMORPG (and would require careful vetting by the company to keep the whole web of stories cohesive). The 'movers and shakers' stories define the framework that all the game's little stories revolve around. --- --- --- '''Paupers Drop - What is it Really : Sinclair constructed the Sinclair Deluxe when ? (I think ~1952 because I think that's when there was a big opportunity and some significant economic shifts in the City) . All normalcy stopped 1960 (if not 1959) with the civil war/post civil war chaos (I'm assuming). Sinclair is no longer affiliated with The Sinclair Deluxe - sometime after Sofia Lamb/Rapture Family got in control (damage and dereliction ... thus THAT is hard to blame on Sinclair, when we ONLY see it years later, long after he had anything to do with it). The place was no Taj Mahal, as it WAS constructed with lower RENT intended (has anyone opine'd otherwise ?). I would guess that an economic slump brought lower overall construction wages and material costs - bargains Sinclair would use to build his 'affordable' hotel (and probably the redevelopment of the whole area) at less expense (likely making for the lower rents he planned to offer to get lots of customers). It doesn't look like Paupers Drop (ex-Maintenance Junction 17) was ORIGINALLY built with Art Deco building fronts in it and businesses, to THEN be reverted to Grace's accusatory "Hooverville'". I don't know how many Rail Yards/maintenance yards anyone else has ever been to, but THEY aren't filled with fancy Art Deco NYC downtown buildings. No, it would have been just a concrete service well (look up around inside there in Paupers Drop) - Under The Tracks - which became a squatter's camp (containing people who lost everything because of some Economic distress - either personal or systemic in the city). I doubt very much Sinclair would build a Hotel in the middle of it - IF the locale had remained a hobo-jungle. THUS the reasoning of the place getting significant redevelopment simultaneous with the Sinclair Deluxe being built - THUS accounting for the Art Deco flash we saw the remains of around there. SO its only logical Sinclair rebuilt it as an investment (and getting other to invest). Then THAT got rundown during/after the 'civil war'/Chaos/Lamb Regime. --- --- --- Sinclair is Blamed for Many Things : His 'Think Tank' in Persephone was limited. Only the people sent there for Sedition or common crimes were available to him and only a small fraction had the skills/knowledge applicable (and then only those he could convince to work for him and weren't psychotic). He didn't run Fontaine Futuristics (post-1958 post-Fontaine) and Ryan's opinion of him made it sure he didn't. He was probably more involved in Persephone's therapy programs, trying to stabilize the criminally insane Splicers at least enough to not require expensive containment (he could get ahold of (hire) non-criminal psychiatric specialists for that). He is blamed for various Little Sister and Big Daddy project involvement, but again that is mostly Fontaine Futuristics run by Fontaine and later Ryan (or his proxies). He supplied subjects for experimentation, but that was a voluntary system (and still actually common in the USA at that time). Very possibly, for those destined to become Big Daddies, the most insane Splicers may have become the largest number of subjects (ADAM paid as the inducement instead of R$). More than a few Splicers realized their state and this was one way to end their situation - and Sinclair would accommodate them. If I were Sinclair and expecting to return to the Surface to make a real fortune, I would concentrate on Brain Boost with my limited research resources, as the biggest possible payoff (and being a Tonic, it having a lower incidence of insanity and with development a possibility of eliminating side effects). Sinclair, being clever, probably would have done this. Immediate results would have been an improved 'Think Tank' to work on profitable schemes in the interim. His group's later work was a significant part of the Vita-Chamber development (probably those specialists not applicable to genetic work). --- --- --- Sinclair the Evil Capitalist ?? ''' : Writers painting Sinclair's activities as 'ethically-questionable' capitalism?? Like what? First lets see that their pretended Sinclair Deluxe 'swindle' is hooey, What OTHER evidence is there to support this 'unethical' accusation? * Sinclair's piecemeal work done by a cripple, who even calls Sinclair a sucker for giving him the easy work ? Is it providing Low End products (low cost) for consumers to choose? * OMG!!! There were needles in with the cheap (gift shop) Teddy Bear packing material !!!! '''SUCH EVIL !!!!!!!!!!! Why that should happen is an absurd occurrence, as the guy working with needles isn't doing Teddy Bears, and anyone who loses sewing needles all the time will not produce many assembled items. ) * Is it Running (and building...) a 'secret' gulag/jail/prison/insane-asylum for the city ? !!! ((WHAT A SWINDLE -- THAT DAMNED SINCLAIR !!!!!!!!!)) Remember HE had to compete (this isn't Fink in Columbia), and simple market forces would eliminate his business IF his stuff was too shoddy for the asked price. It is more shown (IMO) that Sinclair was just better at business than others (making stuff cheaper to sell to more customers, and probably finding the niches many where he could do so). Similarly, if he 'cheated' his workers, they could go elsewhere (and you could have seen News articles about that) - He didn't hold them in thrall at gunpoint like Fontaine did. As I've said before, (IMO) its more an illogical contrived smear of Sinclair for plot reasons (Make you think he's another 'Pal'ly Atlas leading you astray). So these implication of 'ethically questionable' ... They don't hold up. I don't see them as supported logically/factually (they are a crude/inept smear 'to make a point', and are feeble to anyone who knows anything about real business practices and commercial history). --- --- --- Did Persephone Start This Way ???? A consolidated Jail/Prison/Asylum seems a good idea with Fontaine's poison turning citizens into cray/violent criminals, no? An expansion AND saving expenses (which Ryan would definitely like). Sorry writers, it is kinda hard to keep such a monstrous place as Persephone a 'secret'. Hundreds of workers to build it, thousands of tons of materials to be obtained, transported and used to build it, the staff to run it ... Just bad illogical writing done to facilitate and continue the story that Ryan was some kinda tyrant with his own Gulag. --- --- --- . . . . . . The GAME Writer's Sinclair Deluxe 'Tenement' Scam: Under Sofia Lamb it might be a tenement (its labeled such on the player maps). Under Sinclair, years earlier, it looked to be a reasonably good place. So the poorly laid impression is a scam on the Player. The Game writers are attempting to smear Sinclair in the Players eyes. They continue to allude to Sinclair being a callous capitalist a cheat /whatever - THAT distortion is a writers clumsy con job to force that idea (probably to make you doubt him as you SHOULD have doubted Atlas). Unfortunately they are rather incompetent when there is evidence before the Players eyes to counter that opinion. We see in the BS1 1960 timeframe lots of Rapture, we see even the Ritziest bits are in poor brokendown/wreched condition. SO was all of Rapture built out of 'cheap materials' as the writers accuse Sinclair of building his "Sinclair Deluxe" Hotel ?? The interiors of The Sinclair Deluxe are in quite better style and shape than that bare tenement of "Fontaine's Home for the Poor". Oh yes there is damage. BUT we get to see the Sinclair Deluxe MANY years later (BS2 ~1968), with Sinclair long gone, and Sofia Lamb and 'the Rapture Family' (the actual current slumlords) being in charge. The place showing about the equivalent destruction/decrepitude as many other places we saw many years before in BS1 '. The Deluxe's interiors (fireplaces yet!!) were significantly ABOVE mediocre/low quality. With a AE RR Station to commute to work from, it might not have been a bad option for many people in Rapture (and Sinclair WOULD plan on that, particularly if he saw a need and built it after Rpture's original building boom ''was over, and materials and labor were available at a much lower cost.) The neighborhood BACK THEN looked quite better than any alluded to "Hooverville" (and your NEED to imagine it in much better shape in 1958, versus 1967). You have local shops and the diner, etc... (Next to the unseen (removed from game) 'Sinclair Spirits' (part of a separate Sinclair smear), there was likely an unseen Sinclair Grocery Store). Poor people trapped ? You would have "working poor" there utilizing what must have been a lower rent for seemingly adequate apartment space (in the years Sinclair ran it). Employed people thus could have the '''choice of buying more stuff, or having kids, or paying for advancement training, for saving up money, etc... Lower Rent allowed choice for use of the money his customers saved from not being in more expensive accommodations. That bookseller (and his wife in that ginned up sob story on that Audio Diary) was living there, and THAT was a local shop owner. NOTE - If the game writers really wanted to besmear Sinclair as a slumy hardcase flophouse owner, they could have shown a REAL WORLD lowest quality Victorian flophouse, having just open bare rooms, with ropes hung between the walls, on which rows of packed in down-n-out customers hung sleeping(arms hung over the ropesgoogle it - that was real 'flophouse'). That would have been a sight more reflecting Sofia Lamb's actual care for people. IF they wanted to make The Sinclair Deluxe a craphole, the writers failed miserably. The vagueness/brevity of the Audio Diaries strikes again. They generally don't really elaborate on WHEN they were recorded, or of the exact situation they are talking about). Paupers Drop was no doubt originally little more than an ad hoc hobocamp/favela 'under the tracks' - transitioning from a RR workcamp, to a place where some of Rapture's destitute people found shelter (NOTE - I have an Early Economic Distress theory set around 1953 causing that). That was likely well worse situation - beyond being a 'slum'. But then that area appears to have been redeveloped with real money behind it. Sofia Lamb might spring for a soup kitchen, but not any capitalistic enterprises that we saw evidence of there. Such large scale development sounds like Sinclair's doing. Including, besides his brand new 'Hotel', other things also done to improve the locale to help bring in (more than indigent) customers for his 'affordable housing'. The area probably had a better (re)naming (like "Sinclair Station" or "Opportunity Corners" or somesuch). Years later (BS2) we see "Paupers Drop" (regaining its old name ?) in a quite deteriorated Sofia Lamb era socialist state. Even by BS1 gametime, most of Rapture looks pretty 'slummy', damaged, rundown, decrepit. Generally Splicers are not the "This Old House" DIY types. It got run down, with us only seeing it AFTER the bad BS1 times. What is there hints at how spiffy the whole location might have once looked. The under siege look we saw in BS2 certainly wasn't what the area looked like back in the Pre-Kashmire attack 'Good Ole Days'. --- --- --- HOOVERVILLE!!! - Shantytown, Oh Shantytown !!! : SLUM . SLUM . SLUM SLUM . SLUM . SLUM . SLUM SLUM (sung to the "Spam" song from Monty Python) From a conversation with someone who was trying to equate the Sinclair Deluxe with some ancient Slum in England : Looking at a video (Slums in England 1900) Comparing it to 'Shantytown' or to The Sinclair Deluxe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K55zeoyAokE 1) "The Woodwork hasn't been painted for generations" -- The video's direct quote -- a clue as to the time span of those old 'slum' buildings there being talked about (being pre-WWI also was mentioned). 2) 1935 utilities (and if video is 1935 then alot of the buildings are from far earlier) - electricity was relatively new and expensive, gas likewise (used more for illumination, not heating). Burning in a fireplace a necessity (note - NOT in Rapture - its actually there a luxury). 3) Most such places did not have running water, often a tap at the end of street and outhouses (communal facilities we didn't see in Sinclair Deluxe) 4) Its unlikely that gunfights and war quite went on in the English slums there shown (we still saw those barricades in the game, which was a logical cause for ALOT of the damage seen - being due to mass violence). 5) The video's slum scenes look more like Fontaine's Home for the Poor (by far). 6) Film being done during Depression era Britain. Not really mentioned was : How many people were even employed - this is still typically 'Welfare State' housing (which 'Sinclair's' was not - he built it for people who could pay) 7) "Living in one room" - How many of the apartments seen in the Sinclair Deluxe were only one room ? If he wanted to 'pack em in', slumlord Sinclair really did a very lousy job of design for that purpose. 8) If anything, the video's proposed NEW replacement modern (reform) facilities look MORE like what Sinclair HAD built. (Though you need to see what those 1930s replacements themselves LATER looked like -- by the 60s/70s) I don't think this video is a particularly effect piece of evidence (the slum part) - find something more 1950s/1960s America to compare Shantytown to would be better (like infamous FAILZOID 'Projects' Housing built by Socialist Big Government). --- Not ROOSEVELTVILLES ?? (I wonder why ...) The 'Hoovervilles continued to grow during Roosevelt's many years in office, some of them lasting until WW2. The so called 'New Deal' really wasn't one, and Americans' lives got worse when the money Roosevelt had handed out quickly RAN OUT. WE Need to create some pithy sayings that Sinclair had about THAT. --- --- --- Allegations that Sinclair Was a 'Booze Pusher' ': The writers did the usual inept hit-job upon Sinclair - allegedly to paint him as a questionable character. He is to made to look (to current Player's eyes) to be taking advantage of his 'Hotel' residents (based on limited (Audio Diaries) evidence - a simpleton's too-literal interpretation of Sinclair's colorful language) : It is hard to reason this booze-pushing with a strangely non-existent "Sinclair Spirits" in Paupers Drop (note that REMOVED Audio Diary mentioned above). Alcohol was available ALL OVER Rapture anyway. "Discount" it everywhere would be Sinclair's business tactic to get a market share. Alcohol was implied as used by him to keep his 'slum' renters captive, as he catered to them with the cheapest place in town (Short of being 'on the Streets'). But if those people already don't have much money, then losing them as Renters (can't pay and you are out ... ''Ooh that Meanie!!) just to gain some at a liquor store ?? -- That doesn't make business sense. Making them worse than they already were by instilling Alcoholism ? (People who lose their jobs soon can't pay rent.) Again, hardly makes business sense. Actually a High-Falootin place like "Sinclair Spirits" (seen in Poseidon Plaza) wouldn't fit in Paupers Drop. Smarter would be to sell the Booze at a LOCAL Grocery Store business that also sold everything else (discounted or otherwise) -- THAT would have been a better business move. The writers had that commonly seen type of business missing (even when the Sinclair Deluxe apartments HAD kitchens needing groceries). - Generally it was implied (anecdotal sob stories) that Sinclair allegedly made a fortune through spin and exploitation - that many of his costumers consisted of the most vulnerable of Rapture. But CONSIDER the breadth of his businesses : * He manufactured Plasmids didn't he ? - if they were they substandard it would have been shown. * He bought and processed Scrap metal (DLC) ... * He did Research for other Tech companies (including Ryan's). * He produced and sold cheap toys to Tourist-site gift shops (AND gave the owner a 'really good deal'). * He built a Jail/Prison/Asylum Facility for the City (and sort-of ran it). * He built and ran a good sized Hotel for people who couldn't afford other places, or it was cheaper to give those people options with the rest of their money (and NO it wasn't a 'slum' when HE was renting out rooms there - the apartments were quite substantial - go look at them ...). * The area labeled 'Paupers Drop' looks to have been built up/improved/redeveloped - likely due to Sinclair improving the neighborhood property values.* Any who couldn't afford his place would still just find another 'maintenance tunnel' to inhabit (the Sinclair Deluxe had '''paying customers) . * He employed cripples gainfully. * Persephone Prisoners rented for 'testing' (as mentioned - a common practice in the Real World at that time - (( '' BTW, where is the rest of that story to have enough evidence to make a proper judgement ? '' )) * BOOZE ?? OMG, he sold booze!!!! Rapture was floating in Booze if you hadn't noticed. He had that upscale place in Poseidon Plaza. * OMG - He asked a woman for the rent that was DUE - How evil !!!!! (Was this the kind of thing the writers though should convince the Players he was a swindler/evil ?) The game's writers were VERY selective/manipulative about making it look like all his profits came from swindles/unethical practices (Like ignoring actual necessities of operating a REAL business - which many Players, ESPECIALLY TODAY, don't even realize happen). Much of what Sinclair sold DID have competition, and he is shown aiming at some lower quality products to be sold at a lower price (( '' You Walmart much ?? '' )). Is he 'evil' because he made a profit ? Maybe to some people THAT is 'exploitation', and the game (its writers) plays to such foolishness ignorance, which is actually very common today. The game writers were playing Very LOOSE (It IS a 'Shooter' game after all, and not a documentary) with its settings basis being a 70 year old version of the Real World (from the late 40s and 50s). Rapture was based on a well documented society/culture (It is based on a recognizable/familiar world system/society - at least to those who see old movies or lived through it, or know a little history). The setting reflects well known social patterns/conventions/thinking and motivations/actions and perspectives and historical references (that whole Nostalgia thing). It was meant to be only an icing layer's difference from the historic world . Familiar world-filling details don't need to be explained as much in-game to the Players (so allows more depth with less work and less confusion). THEN that normalish 'known' type of fictional world setting is subjected to a new Sci-Fi phenomenon, responding how the writers THINK could have happened in THAT scenario. Unfortunately, these games are limited to be a gunfight forcing 'story' in a contrived dystopic world with some kind of character involvement wedged in between. The BioShock game writers DO seem to frequently discard/warp/omit significant aspects from the Real World. Perhaps it was easier/less-effort for them to simply skip it, and likewise whenever some real world logic got in the way of that plot they'd decided on. IF it had been a much more Fantasy-basis society, then they could just say : "Its what we say it is" (like what Infinite BS degenerated into). But in Rapture, the games serious intent was to be heavily based on a recognizable nostalgic past. So they couldn't get away with that in those earlier (Rapture) games. Consider : When gamemakers have limited/wasted-their budget/time/expertise, and have no priority/desire to try to keep things pure/kosher/logical, you get : Infinite BS - with "Its ONLY a game" as their defense for the incoherent mess they created. --- --- --- Sinclair's Diverse Products Sinclairs.jpg --- --- --- Why Did The Writers of BS2 Dump on Sinclair ? : Sinclair, who had pride in his own ability to create wealth, wouldn't begrudge others their chance to make their own wealth (unlike those like Fontaine, who ultimately wanted to steal the wealth and power of others). Sinclair did seem to have disdain for those who had wealth but who hadn't seemed to have done anything to create it, and those who stupidly wasted theirs. --- --- --- YET ANOTHER CONTEST CATEGORY : "SAYINGS OF SINCLAIR" ''' : "Trying to find useful materials in Rapture is Work 'harder than a cat trying to bury a turd on a marble floor' " - Augustus Sinclair "Ryan is too big to see the Trees, An' I know how to sell Trees ..." --- --- --- '''Sinclair Offering Delta Advice on 'Eating Little Sisters for their ADAM" : " Their brainz is the tastiest part of them, Sport. Add some Cajun Pepper and that makes for some rather fine eatin ... " Sinclair's philosophy maintains that he should see to his own survival over that of others, and I get the impression that they (the game writers) try to present that as 'bad' to the Player. Yet in the game YOU (as Delta) kill hundreds of people (Splicers are still people if you don't want to split hairs ) supposedly to get to what YOU seek (Eleanor). Are you given a choice ? You could make an excuse that YOU are compelled to do this, so you bear little guilt. The game doesn't let you go very far if you refuse to kill again and again, and YOU are NOT given many tools to get very far without being required to kill, WHICH if they (the game developers) wished, they very well could have supplied to HAVE that choice available for the Player (BUT THEY DIDN'T). Hypocrisy ? Alot of hype about 'choice' from Levine&Co, but little actually to be had ? Denounce 'evil' characters, yet force the Player into the very same evils ? To provide Players with that versatility, it is hard skilled writing work and costs alot of effort, but remember this is SUPPOSED to be a game with 'moral choice' and 'story' ... NO? --- --- --- Sinclair Smeared ? : Sinclair didn't believe in the Great Chain (in the way Ryan did) and did things largely for himself. Was that why Ryan disliked him ? But isn't what Sinclair did exactly what the Great Chain entails - Where his Achievements for his own good/benefit pulled others forward as a byproduct ?? (not HAVING to be be a direct motivation or some kind of 'Altruism'). Fontaine was an out and out Crook, yet the game shows (Audio Diaries) Ryan actually being impressed by Fontaine's actions (That may have been before Ryan knew that Fontaine was the city's biggest Smuggler, or before many of Fontaine's thuggish business practices were realized). But Sinclair, who Ryan uses repeatedly for more than a little of his dirty work, is somehow looked down upon (or so the selection of Audio Diaries appears to indicate). Was this all some effort in the BS2 game to misleadingly smear your 'ally'/'mentor' Sinclair ... instilling some distrust, THAT after in BS1 they (the game writers) MADE Atlas so 'nice' (to the Player) to easily manipulate and lead YOU around like a dog on a leash. That game was designed to lay the empathy on thick, to push YOU along their plot line (including into doing (MURDERING RYAN) what Ryan was supposedly accused of being 'evil'/bad/a-tyrant-for). The same smearing goes for Sinclair somehow wanting to 'arm' people (in his Home Defense Product Testing) who really would want to kill him (Atlas's terrorists). (( That can be de-emphasized as Canon because it was sloppily used to facilitate the Multi-player DLC subplot)). --- --- --- Sinclair Found Niches ... ''' : In the real world : http://science.slashdot.org/story/12/12/10/0051220/brain-cells-made-from-urine I had joked writing that Sinclair bought the concession for processing Human Waste (in sewage) to recycle ADAM (a business opportunity apparently that might not be so appetizing to Ryan) --- Being paid for the collection service as well as for selling the 'byproducts' (fertilizer would be a valuable product in self-sufficient Rapture). "Profits IN and Profits OUT" Then low and behold, in the real world, reprocessing of Stem Cells from bodily wastes (adult stem cells technology). Stem Cell therapy would be part of 'the Cure' process used to rebuild Splicer's tissue damage (but not the way that ADAM does) and as part of the 'no death' mechanism for a MMORPG - the way that players get healed after 'losing' (someone dragging your corpse/dying body back to civilization in New Rapture). --- --- --- '''BS2 - Why should Ryan Show (Some) Admiration for Fontaine While Disparaging Sinclair ?? : More Strawman rubbish from the later Devs, when Ryan most certainly SHOULD/WOULD have already known what a scum-bucket/criminal Fontaine was already ??? Fontaine's unlawful gangsterism could hardly be kept secret in Free Press Rapture. Ryan thought Sinclair was an opportunist ? And somehow Fontaine was not ? Sinclair might not have believed in 'The Great Chain' the same way Ryan did, but was still in business for himself and his own advancement -- Which was STILL a large part of Ryan's Philosophy, and Sinclair went ALONG with and supported and made work Ryan's system, instead of trying to break it as Fontaine did. Are the writers implying that Sinclair cheated people ? Yes they did. And no he didn't. Yet they ever actually showed any real evidence of that ? It was Half-Explaining to so many ignorant Players how business works - done to intentionally distort the situation. The writers have SAID that 'Let the Buyer Beware' WAS the watchword in Rapture's Philosophy -- Where YOU are responsible for your own decisions. And Free Speech wasn't blocked in Rapture (That is the traditional COUNTER to 'Let the Buyer Beware' where REPUTATION was the system in force.) Sinclair a 'Huckster' ? Ryan would understand that small businesses/niches would make up more of Rapture's economy than the larger Big-Market-type industries of The Surface World (the ones Rapture was far too small to actually support). - THIS IS Inconsistency from Game Developers who have to make their characters mouth whatever they found convenient to set the tone they were contriving.... More 'Laying It On Thick' to make Sinclair out as a dodgy character - While forcing a simpleton-style condemnation of Capitalism (and Ryan) at the same time. Part of the puzzle/challenge of the MMORPG will be trying to resolve/repair such original inconsistencies. --- --- --- --- --- . .